Last updated Jan 16, 2025
Dealing with Wrong Pages Ranking for Target Keywords
Sometimes in SEO, the ‘wrong’ page on your website or blog will rank higher than the ‘right’ page — the one you intended to rank higher for a specific keyword or search query.
When this happens, there are good ways to diagnose and help fix the problem.
This post looks at when the wrong page ranks for your target keyword — with tips and tools to help turn things around.
Let’s take a closer look below.
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Target Keywords/Queries & Target Pages
SEO and Mapping Target Keywords to Pages
One of the first things I learned in SEO is that each piece of content designed with SEO performance in mind should have a unique ‘focus keyword’ or keyphrase. One that has not already been used for other pages or posts on the site.
Terminology-wise, ‘keyword’ or ‘keyphrase’ is the user query that triggers a search. It can be a single word, or much more commonly, a multi-word keyphrase or so-called ‘long-tail keyword’.
In the conventional base case, one keyword/keyphrase maps to one target piece of SEO content. Using multi-word keyphrases improves the odds of each page or post having a unique focus keyphrase.
This idea is prominent in various SEO tools, such as Yoast and other popular WordPress SEO plugins. It’s also a driving concept for AI SEO optimization tools like Frase and page-level auditing tools like SEO PowerSuite’s WebSite Auditor.
Some SEO tools, like SEO PowerSuite’s Rank Tracker application, enable mapping target keywords to specific target landing pages. These tools can then alert you when they detect the wrong pages on your site ranking for your mapped keywords.
See more about these tools in the section further below.
Why ‘Wrong’ Pages Rank Higher in SEO
SEO-Optimized Content Growth Drives Ranking Challenges
Having a growing website or blog, where the growth is content-driven and dominated by SEO traffic gains, brings many opportunities as well as challenges.
One of the main challenges, of course, is getting your content to rank high and drive new inbound traffic from organic search sources such as Google or Bing.
Ranking high vs your external SEO competition is the primary challenge here.
However, sometimes your content can actually compete against itself for higher ranking positions. In these cases, your SEO competition includes your site’s other content covering the same or very similar topics.
In other words, ‘Content Piece B’ may beat ‘Content Piece A’ for a specific target keyword/keyphrase, even when you prefer ‘Content Piece A’ to win that battle.
(Both pieces A and B are from your site.)
I’ve seen this happen a few times on my websites and blogs. Sometimes it’s not a huge issue; other times it can be more important.
It’s a problem when you really need a specific page or post to rank high for a specific user search query. For example, an SEO campaign landing page with a revenue-driving call-to-action (CTA) element on it.
But then that intended landing page is bested in the Google SERP by another page or post from your same site — a content piece that may not be highly optimized for conversion.
Problems as ‘Topic Clusters’ Grow in Size and Scope
Topic Clusters and Keyword Groups
The problem of wrong pages or posts outranking your preferred content can rear its head when you have lots of strong content on the same or very similar related topics.
In other words, when you have a ‘topic cluster’ with lots of good content on your focus topics within a specific niche or industry segment.
Related: Learn more here about using keyword groups and topic clusters. Also, see these methods and resources for doing easy and free keyword research.
With lots of content on the same or highly related topics, you may have multiple pieces using the same target keyphrase throughout. How and where you use the target keyphrase within these related pieces will influence relative search rankings for these pages.
Also, keep in mind that your focus keyword usage across related pieces may be quite intentional — or somewhat random, or even accidental.
Other Reasons for Wrong Page Ranking Issues
Other factors causing one or more less relevant pages on your website to outrank your preferred target page include:
Keyword Stuffing
- Overusing keywords: Related to the above point, if the ‘wrong’ page has more instances of the target keyword or search query, search engines might prioritize it for higher rankings and visibility.
- Unnatural keyword placement: Keyword stuffing in unnatural contexts can also confuse search engines.
Stronger Backlink Profile
- Quality and quantity: If the ‘wrong’ page has acquired more high-quality backlinks (incoming links from external domains), it might signal to search engines that it’s more authoritative on the topic.
- Relevance: The relevance of the backlinks to the page’s content is crucial.
Better Internal Linking
- Quality and diversity: If the wrong page has a stronger internal linking profile (incoming links from other pages/posts on the same domain) compared to the desired target page, this may bump up its ranking as well.
Better User Experience
- Faster loading: A faster page might have a better user experience, leading to higher engagement and lower bounce rates, which can positively impact rankings.
- Mobile-friendliness: Mobile-first indexing means mobile-friendly pages have an advantage.
Fresh Content
- Updated information: Regularly updated content can signal freshness and relevance to search engines. If your lower-priority page has had a good update recently, it may start (or continue) to rank higher than your actual target page. Be sure to prioritize your SEO content updates and refreshes on your most important pages first.
Technical SEO Factors
- Crawlability: If the ‘wrong’ page is more easily crawlable by search engine bots due to factors like site structure or technical issues, it might be prioritized.
- Indexing: Issues with indexing can prevent a page from appearing in search results.
Related: Learn more here about when pages accidentally rank high for the wrong keywords. This is both similar to and different from the topic of this post. This can lead to metrics distortion and even SEO ‘vanity metrics’ problems.
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Remedies to Improve Rankings for the Correct Page
Fixing the ‘Wrong Page Ranking’ Problem in SEO
There are several things you can do to try to reverse the ranking order of your content for target keywords and search queries.
Assuming you have Content Page B outranking Content Page A for a desirable keyword, try the following tests, checks, and remedies to help move Page A into the higher spot.
Google Search Console Analysis
To help diagnose potential problems, check the ranking history of both Pages A and B in Google Search Console (GSC), using the exact target query (focus keyword) as a filter.
- Is there a specific point in time when Page B started outranking Page A? Was the change immediate or more gradual?
- Do you see a potential time correlation between ranking movements and any content changes you made to either or both pages? Or with major Google algorithm updates made public by Google?
- Try using the ‘Compare’ filters in GSC for the exact page URLs you’re evaluating, using the same target query or focus keyword for both pages. What does this comparison reveal?
Page-Level Website Content Audits
If you have access to a website auditing tool, see if you can do a page-level analysis and SEO scoring with it. Run this for both Pages A & B and look for differences and SEO recommendations.
- Do you find any important differences in the on-page SEO analysis for Pages A and B?
- Is there a significant page speed difference between Pages A and B?
- If the ‘SEO Score’ differs significantly for the two pages, what is driving the difference? Can you spot any easy fixes or quick SEO wins for your preferred page (Page A in this case)?
SEO Content Optimization Audits
Also, consider using tools and platforms that are specific to SEO content optimization. AI-assisted SEO platforms like Frase (see more below) can evaluate your specific page URLs for target queries/keywords and provide content optimization scoring based on keyword usage and other factors.
Test both Pages A & B with the same focus keyword and see what the content-driven SEO scoring reveals for you.
Other General Guidance for Ranking the ‘Right’ Page Higher
Here are some other useful SEO reminders when trying to fix the ‘wrong page ranking’ problem.
These are good SEO practices in general, so one or more of these tips may help you get the ‘right’ (preferred) page ranked higher than the ‘wrong’ one.
Keyword Optimization
- Natural usage: Use keywords naturally within the content. Try to be SEO-aware while still keeping your content highly readable and user-friendly.
- Keyword placement: Place keywords in page URLs, relevant headings, meta descriptions, image alt text and captions, etc. This is all part of ensuring your ‘on-page SEO’ is in good shape for the target page and focus keyword.
Content Quality and Relevance
- Create high-quality content: Ensure the content is informative, engaging, and relevant to the target keyword.
- User intent: Understand the user’s intent behind the target search query and tailor the content accordingly.
Backlink Building
- Quality over quantity: Focus on acquiring high-quality backlinks from authoritative websites.
- Relevance: Ensure the backlinks are relevant to the page’s topic.
Technical SEO
- Site speed: Optimize page load times.
- Mobile-friendliness: Ensure the page is mobile-friendly.
- Crawlability and indexing: Address any technical issues that might hinder search engine bots from accessing and indexing the page.
User Experience
- Clear navigation: Make it easy for users to find what they’re looking for.
- Internal linking: Use internal linking tools to help connect related pages.
- Mobile optimization: Prioritize mobile user experience.
Monitor and Analyze
- Keyword rankings: Track the rankings of your target page in tools such as Google Search Console, Bing Webmaster Tools, and professional 3rd-party rank trackers.
- Search engine analytics: Use tools like Google Search Console to identify issues and opportunities. (As discussed above and below.)
‘Wrong Page Ranking’ — Related Helpful SEO Tools
Leverage Available SEO Tools to Boost Higher Priority Page Rankings
There are both free and paid SEO tools available to help you fix a ‘wrong page ranking’ problem.
Learn more about these options below.
Google Search Console — Primary Free Google SEO Toolkit
As I’ve covered in many of my SEO-focused posts, Google Search Console (GSC) is your best free Google SEO toolkit for debugging ranking issues in general.
When one of your pages or posts accidentally outranks another preferred page or post for your target keyword, you will see this reflected in your GSC performance reporting area.
You can inspect the ranking graph for each page (Page A and Page B) individually for your exact target keyword. This will give you a view of the overall trendline for each page.
Then try the ‘Compare’ function in GSC’s Page filter at the top of the performance report. Compare the exact URLs for Page A and Page B to see what that reveals for your target keyword.
Aside from performance reporting, GSC can also reveal if your target page has any indexing issues, Googlebot crawling problems, or other technical factors that may contribute to its ranking below other pages or posts on your site.
Learn more and get started with Google Search Console here.
Page-Level SEO Audits — On-Page Analysis and Scoring
Some SEO auditing tools can provide specific page-level SEO analysis and scoring, in addition to performing complete site-wide technical audits.
For example, SEO PowerSuite’s WebSite Auditor application provides page-level analysis and SEO scoring for specific target keywords and URLs.
With this type of tool available, you can analyze both Page A and Page B (per the example scenario above) to uncover insights into why Page B may be outranking your preferred target — Page A.
SEO Content Optimization Tools — Improve Target Pages
Platforms that specialize in SEO content scoring and optimization can also help reveal SEO differences between two pages of the same site — and why the wrong page is outranking your actual target page for the same keyword.
Such platforms, like Frase highlighted below, include competitive SERP analysis, keyword and topic analysis, and AI writing assistants to help you craft SEO content that is designed to rank well.
In this case, use Frase (or a similar tool) to analyze both URLs for your existing Pages A and B. Use the same target keyword/keyphrase for both analyses.
What does Frase’s content scoring tell you about each page? Do you have keyword usage problems on Page A that aren’t present on Page B?
Armed with Frase’s insights and scoring for both Pages A and B, you can then use its AI capabilities and real-time content scoring to help Page A earn higher ranking positions than Page B.
You may even want to update Page B so that it intentionally scores worse than Page A for your target keyword/query.
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Fixing ‘Wrong Page Ranking’ Problems — Closing Thoughts
Use Targeted Updates to Help One Page Outrank Another
When one of your website pages accidentally outranks a preferred target page in SEO, there are definitely ways to help reverse this situation.
Start with page-level analysis in Google Search Console. It’s free and can help pinpoint when the problem occurred, with trendlines before and after any key points on the GSC performance reporting timeline.
If you have other SEO tools available, such as website auditors and SEO content optimizers, use these with both of the page URLs in question.
To ensure an ‘apples-to-apples’ analysis and comparison, use the same target keyphrase/query when checking, optimizing, or intentionally de-optimizing specific pages to impact their relative rankings.
When finished making a round of page edits or updates, monitor each URL in GSC to look for ranking changes for your target keyword. Do the same in any SEO keyword rank-tracking tools you may also have at your disposal.
With time and a little luck, you should see your target page (e.g., Page A) start to move higher relative to the less ideal page (e.g., Page B) for your target query.
Questions or Comments?
I hope this discussion of fixing ‘wrong page ranking’ issues has been helpful! I’ll close with a few questions for you:
- Have you ever discovered the wrong page ranking for an important keyword/keyphrase for your website or blog? How did you address this issue?
- Have you tried the ‘Compare’ features of Google Search Console to compare performance trends for specific pages or queries? How has this helped your analysis?
- Besides GSC, what other SEO tools do you use for analyzing or optimizing page-level keyword ranking issues?
Feel free to add more in the comments below with any thoughts, feedback, or related questions. Thanks also for any social shares on this post via the buttons below!
